After his qualifying performance and on current form, Nowak would be insane not to give Stuie a ton of time at the Olympics..... I think he'll be a hot commodity once that tournament ends. The kid is a freaking stud, and I'm going to hate to see him go. If he's going to go, though, I'd love to see him in Holland or Spain, rather than England. I have little doubt he'll do well no matter where he goes, but he's so smooth, and I'd love to see him further develop in a really technical league.
Not to derail this thread more, but he needs a league/club where his technical skills can be harnessed, not a physical one where his size will be a hinderance. Props to DC fans who stayed the full ~5 hours
Don't look now but this win puts us back in the playoff zone and our schedule from here on out looks pretty favorable: Eight of our thirteen remaining league games are at Robertson. We don't have to play New England again. We don't have any more road games against Columbus, LA, Chicago, RSL, or DC. Our remaining away games are RBNY, Toronto, Chivas, San Jose, and CRapids. We have home games against the teams we are battling for playoff position, including Colorado, RSL, Chivas, and the Gals.
Completely agree that it was a much needed three points and puts the team right where they need to be regarding making a move for the playoffs. As we have seen previously, get Houston in and we shall see what damage the team can do come playoff time. The other points worth mentioning: Other teams are losing players (Guzan out at Chivas will hurt) and we are not. We actually got a player coming in (Jaqua).
As of right now, the only teams I can think of that are/might lose more players than they bring in are Chivas USA and Dallas. Even then though, it's not like they are going to move players out and then just leave their roster spots empty. If Cooper leaves Dallas, maybe the Ariel Ortega rumor comes to fruition. I know that Saprissa's young goalie (who already has a fair number of caps for Costa Rica) has already been mentioned as Guzan's replacement should Guzan get his work permit. Anyway, the point isn't to see which teams are losing more players than they are getting because the chances are no one will, but rather to see if they get equal or better talent to replace the players they lost. (Houston lost Caraccio but has added Jaqua and Kamara; SJ lost Kamara but added Huckerby and Sealy etc.)
Good stats from the game: · The Houston Dynamo moved into a tie for second place in the Western Conference with a 2-0 win over D.C. United in a rain-soaked and delayed match that ended early Thursday morning at RFK Stadium in Washington D.C. The Dynamo had beaten D.C. United 3-1 on Saturday in SuperLiga play and are 3-1 in their last four games with a 9-2 goal advantage. · The game, which had already been postponed twice (from June 4 to July 22, then from July 22 to July 23), endured a two-hour, 54-minute rain and lightning delay early in the second half. · The Dynamo are now 5-4-8 in MLS play, tied with Los Angeles with 23 points. Both teams trail first-place Real Salt Lake by one point and have a game in hand. The game was just Houston’s second road win of the season, its first since a 2-1 win over Chicago on May 17. · Houston midfielder Brian Mullan got the Dynamo on the scoreboard in the 20th minute, cutting back from his preferred right foot to fire a left-footed shot past former Dynamo goalkeeper Zach Wells. Mullan has now scored two goals in the last four overall games after going more than one year without scoring. Rookie midfielder Geoff Cameron, making his fifth league start, earned his second assist of the MLS season. · The Dynamo had a 20-2 shot advantage until goalkeeper Pat Onstad made two sensational saves in the 70th and 71st minutes on Clyde Simms and Francis Doe, respectively. Onstad finished with three saves to record his fourth shutout in league play this season and 47th of his MLS career. Houston finished with a 23-4 advantage in shots. · Forward Brian Ching sealed the game with a 79th-minute header off of a well-placed free kick from Brad Davis, who assisted two goals on set pieces in Saturday’s SuperLiga win over D.C. United. The goal was Ching’s seventh of the season and the 51st league goal of his MLS career. · Dynamo defender Wade Barrett made his 100th appearance for the Dynamo in all competitions, the most in team history out of the team’s 107 games. It was also Barrett’s 210th career start in MLS play. Teammate Brian Mullan appeared in his 100th overall game while making his 95th start. Forward Brian Ching made his 100th career MLS start. · Forward Nate Jaqua came on as a substitute in the 89th minute to make his first Dynamo appearance since MLS Cup 2007. Jaqua was re-signed by the club on July 15. · Houston forward Dwayne De Rosario will miss the August 2 match against the Columbus Crew due to yellow card accumulation after picking up his fifth yellow card of the season in the 63rd minute. · The Dynamo played without Richard Mulrooney (knee swelling) and Ricardo Clark (suspension). (compliments of http://www.forever-orange.com)